Calgary & Alberta Economy

[Beltline_B]

Canada records trade deficit, share of exports to U.S. hits non-pandemic low

Canada recorded a smaller-than-expected trade deficit of C$583 million (US$419 million) in October, when imports increased at a greater pace than exports, official data indicated on Thursday

www.ctvnews.ca

Canadians need to get back to trying harder to buy Canadian, or anything non-US. I know it's not going to erase the trade deficit, but it will help.

 

[darwink]

Canadians need to get back to trying harder to buy Canadian, or anything non-US. I know it's not going to erase the trade deficit, but it will help.

Oil prices swing this so much. Not a number I'm worried about tbh.

 

[trtcttc]

Canada records trade deficit, share of exports to U.S. hits non-pandemic low

Canada recorded a smaller-than-expected trade deficit of C$583 million (US$419 million) in October, when imports increased at a greater pace than exports, official data indicated on Thursday

www.ctvnews.ca

Natural resources will always have buyers, export less to the US, more goes to other countries. The US seizing VZ oil in the short run will probably boost exports to China. But we really need to find markets for non-resource goods outside of the US.

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

Canadians need to get back to trying harder to buy Canadian, or anything non-US. I know it's not going to erase the trade deficit, but it will help.

Actually a bit surprised that US imports were up..

Exports to the United States dipped by 4.1 per cent while imports increased by 5.3 per cent.

I'm guessing that is mostly sales to business and industry. As a consumer, I genuinely can't recall the last time I purchased anything made in the US... (Or Canada for that matter, outside of food and gas)

Is there some sort of online marketplace I'm not aware of, something like Aliexpress, but only sells goods made in the USA?

 

[Beltline_B]

Oil prices swing this so much. Not a number I'm worried about tbh.

Exports to the US I’m not worried about either, but having US imports increase by 5.3% bothers me a bit. I think we can do better.

 

[JWhite]

Does that 5.3% increase take into account Inflation? Inflation would be most of that 5.3% I think.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Exports to the US I’m not worried about either, but having US imports increase by 5.3% bothers me a bit. I think we can do better.

I still try to avoid buying anything American, but the issue for me is the labeling. also an issue is grocery stores putting the Canadian maple leaf sticker beside the price, even though the product isn't often made in Canada. I wish all products had a tag saying where it was actually made.

 

[darwink]

Exports to the US I’m not worried about either, but having US imports increase by 5.3% bothers me a bit. I think we can do better.

I’d bet it is restocking consumables for stocks which were drawn down to avoid tariffs or search for alternatives.

 

[trtcttc]

Keep in mind this is October 2025, and almost all the import increases are for equipment and machinery. 5.1% for smartphones from US/China (phone launch month), and machinery and equipment (+5.6%), logging, construction, mining and oil and gas field machinery and equipment (+14.7%) and parts of industrial machinery and equipment (+7.1%).

None of these products are consumer driven and isn't something a company can replace the supplier overnight. It's also important to note that GDP import/export looks at last substantial transformation. A machinery with motors from Japan, parts from Germany, but assembled in the US, 100% of the import value is attributed to the US even if the value add is much less than that.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Varcoe: Even with volatile oil prices and a slowing housing market, Calgary's economy projected to grow this year

Despite volatile oil prices, trade turmoil and slowing housing market, Calgary's economy projected to grow by 2.4 per cent this year.

calgaryherald.com

Conference Board of Canada has a pretty good outlook for the local economy. Most notable line from the article
“We are talking about solid but unspectacular growth, and it’s going to be decent in the national context, because we are forecasting Calgary to have the fastest growth of any city.”

 

[Chowda7]

Article mentioned that this purchase allows PowerWood to commence construction on their first pellet plant in Peace River. 10 year offtake agreement already signed with a Japanese energy company

$1.1M Land Deal Secured by Black Pellet Biofuel Business to Add Rail Spur to Northern Alberta Production Sites

PowerWood Canada Corp will construct loading and locomotive depots and lay 3.5km of track on 175 acres of land in Mackenzie County to service Canada’s first ‘steam explosion’ advanced black pellet production facilitiesCALGARY, Alberta, Jan. 12, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- POWERWOOD Canada Corp...

ca.finance.yahoo.com

 

[DougB]

Trump is the biggest idiot, after the failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, he thinks that he can just assume control of another country and fix all their problems? Venezuela will be an absolute shit show for the next decade, and another decade on top of that if he decides to do something with Columbia. If they get sorted out in a manner that's favourable to the US, they would then need another 20 years to update their infrastructure to effectively export oil to the US. If anything this will raise the price of our oil that I hope we then sell to China. Trump is the biggest POS ever, he's basically as trustworthy as Maduro was!

The real motivation is to keep Russian, Iranian and especially Chinese influence out of Venezuela. The US doesn't need the oil as much as does China. The secondary motivation is to hasten the collapse of Cuba. Beyond pride and voters in Florida, I'm unsure why the US would want to bring 10M poor people back into its orbit. Cuba has limited economic potential beyond resorts. It only has one golf course, so the upside if there for the Trump family.

 

[DougB]

Trump is the biggest idiot, after the failures in Iraq and Afghanistan, he thinks that he can just assume control of another country and fix all their problems? Venezuela will be an absolute shit show for the next decade, and another decade on top of that if he decides to do something with Columbia. If they get sorted out in a manner that's favourable to the US, they would then need another 20 years to update their infrastructure to effectively export oil to the US. If anything this will raise the price of our oil that I hope we then sell to China. Trump is the biggest POS ever, he's basically as trustworthy as Maduro was!

If Trump can cut off the cocaine flow from Colombia, maybe the quality of US movie and music production will increase

 

[Mountain Man]

If Trump can cut off the cocaine flow from Colombia, maybe the quality of US movie and music production will increase

Ha! I think the opposite would be true, drugs can get the creative juices flowing! lol. Besides, the flow of drugs will never end as long as the demand is there, they should just legalize and regulate cocaine, take away the main business of the cartels.

 

[trtcttc]

The real motivation is to keep Russian, Iranian and especially Chinese influence out of Venezuela. The US doesn't need the oil as much as does China. The secondary motivation is to hasten the collapse of Cuba. Beyond pride and voters in Florida, I'm unsure why the US would want to bring 10M poor people back into its orbit. Cuba has limited economic potential beyond resorts. It only has one golf course, so the upside if there for the Trump family.

I find these influence arguments such a double standard. Why is Venezuela not allowed to have economic and political relationship with any country they please? Why is it ok to invade a country because they don't agree with who you have relationships with? If that was the case, is China justified in invading Korea? Japan? Not to mention Russia and Ukraine. Maybe I'm just naive because I wasn't old enough during the Iraq war, but what a sad state the US has fallen.